Marathon training weekend
My training for the New Forest marathon in September 2006 has now officially begun.
It wasn't until the Thursday after the Reading half marathon that I was able to run again (a nice, steady 6-7 mile run) and this was followed by a good, tough speed session with Anthony on Friday. Some people question my having PT sessions, but they are always tough (which proves I am getting my money's worth), and I look forward to them. Anthony told me recently he enjoys training me so it's a symbiotic friendship I guess.
We spoke about the training I need to do over the summer, and I decided it was time to get on with it straight away. Shame about the diet but hey, it was the bank holiday weekend. Back on the wagon Tuesday, honest.
Saturday was an interesting experience, to say the least. 3 hours of exercise: Spinning, followed by body pump, followed by the same run I did Thursday. Lunatic, I hear you say. I agree, but there was a method in the madness. Normally I would stop after the two classes but as I knew my stomach was empty I thought it would be good to force my body to dig into its fat reserves.
It hurt. I wanted to cry. I wanted my mum. (Nothing new there actually..sigh). But seriously, my body knew what I was trying to do and didn't like it. Nonetheless, I stuck with it and got round quicker than I did a few days ago. As someone kindly pointed out, I've certainly got the dedication. Damn right - I deserve to get into a 32" waist after all this. And to run a 10k in 40 minutes. And to get off with Kimberley from Girls Aloud. Ok, I'll stop there..
The intention Sunday was to do 2 10-mile runs. Yes, 2 runs in one day. Alas, it was not to be - I had a lovely long lie-in in the morning (when you can sleep for 10 hours it proves you have been working too hard and need a break) and managed to get booked in for a sports massage in the early afternoon. Hence I only had time for a 7-mile run, but it was a good run, I concentrated on picking up the pace, keeping myself nice and tall, and it felt good.
It is so, so nice to be running outside with nothing more than a vest on (at least where my upper body is concerned) and sunglasses. The cricket season has begun and summer is here at last. Well, almost..
After the massage I treated myself to the flicks and saw "Scary Movie 4". It won't win any Oscars, and I thought the spoof of "Million Dollar Baby" was a bit out of order, but I enjoyed it. Sometimes it's good to leave your brain at the door and enjoy something just plain dumb and funny.
Anyway, back to the serious business. Today I did 2 10-mile runs, or at least 2 runs of 90 minutes duration. Haven't got round to calibrating my distance monitor you see. The first was not too bad, again I enjoyed being out in the sun and it was nice to see an old mate hooting at me from his car as I was crossing the road.
I couldn't tell you I enjoyed heading back to the gym for the second run. I just wanted to stay at home and do something different. Chill out with a good book, perhaps? Anthony warned me that marathon training will be boring at times, but I've no doubt it will be worth it. I was never a gifted athlete, so if I can prove to myself I can run 26.2 miles, then anything else I set my mind to should be a piece of cake.
It was painful as well. I was sore, and my legs felt heavy. After an hour I was shattered, and did have to walk in a couple of places (obviously out of the view of any admiring females). I used a different route and when I got back to the gym I had been on my feet for 1 hour 20 minutes. My body told me to hit the showers. My heart told me to run 1o minutes on the treadmill. My brain had the final say and so I did the latter. It was 30 minutes until closing time and I kind of got off on the fact that I was the last man standing in there.
And so home to a salad and a glass of mineral water. Yeah right - haven't you heard, Nelson got his eye back? On long run days, you have whatever you want. I wolfed down a chicken tikka massala - I was so ravenous I didn't even notice it said "extra hot" on the label. It could have been a phall and it wouldn't have been on my taste buds long enough to make a difference.
So marathon training has its upside. Still, I have it all to do before September.
Copyright © Jonathan Weedon, April 2006
It wasn't until the Thursday after the Reading half marathon that I was able to run again (a nice, steady 6-7 mile run) and this was followed by a good, tough speed session with Anthony on Friday. Some people question my having PT sessions, but they are always tough (which proves I am getting my money's worth), and I look forward to them. Anthony told me recently he enjoys training me so it's a symbiotic friendship I guess.
We spoke about the training I need to do over the summer, and I decided it was time to get on with it straight away. Shame about the diet but hey, it was the bank holiday weekend. Back on the wagon Tuesday, honest.
Saturday was an interesting experience, to say the least. 3 hours of exercise: Spinning, followed by body pump, followed by the same run I did Thursday. Lunatic, I hear you say. I agree, but there was a method in the madness. Normally I would stop after the two classes but as I knew my stomach was empty I thought it would be good to force my body to dig into its fat reserves.
It hurt. I wanted to cry. I wanted my mum. (Nothing new there actually..sigh). But seriously, my body knew what I was trying to do and didn't like it. Nonetheless, I stuck with it and got round quicker than I did a few days ago. As someone kindly pointed out, I've certainly got the dedication. Damn right - I deserve to get into a 32" waist after all this. And to run a 10k in 40 minutes. And to get off with Kimberley from Girls Aloud. Ok, I'll stop there..
The intention Sunday was to do 2 10-mile runs. Yes, 2 runs in one day. Alas, it was not to be - I had a lovely long lie-in in the morning (when you can sleep for 10 hours it proves you have been working too hard and need a break) and managed to get booked in for a sports massage in the early afternoon. Hence I only had time for a 7-mile run, but it was a good run, I concentrated on picking up the pace, keeping myself nice and tall, and it felt good.
It is so, so nice to be running outside with nothing more than a vest on (at least where my upper body is concerned) and sunglasses. The cricket season has begun and summer is here at last. Well, almost..
After the massage I treated myself to the flicks and saw "Scary Movie 4". It won't win any Oscars, and I thought the spoof of "Million Dollar Baby" was a bit out of order, but I enjoyed it. Sometimes it's good to leave your brain at the door and enjoy something just plain dumb and funny.
Anyway, back to the serious business. Today I did 2 10-mile runs, or at least 2 runs of 90 minutes duration. Haven't got round to calibrating my distance monitor you see. The first was not too bad, again I enjoyed being out in the sun and it was nice to see an old mate hooting at me from his car as I was crossing the road.
I couldn't tell you I enjoyed heading back to the gym for the second run. I just wanted to stay at home and do something different. Chill out with a good book, perhaps? Anthony warned me that marathon training will be boring at times, but I've no doubt it will be worth it. I was never a gifted athlete, so if I can prove to myself I can run 26.2 miles, then anything else I set my mind to should be a piece of cake.
It was painful as well. I was sore, and my legs felt heavy. After an hour I was shattered, and did have to walk in a couple of places (obviously out of the view of any admiring females). I used a different route and when I got back to the gym I had been on my feet for 1 hour 20 minutes. My body told me to hit the showers. My heart told me to run 1o minutes on the treadmill. My brain had the final say and so I did the latter. It was 30 minutes until closing time and I kind of got off on the fact that I was the last man standing in there.
And so home to a salad and a glass of mineral water. Yeah right - haven't you heard, Nelson got his eye back? On long run days, you have whatever you want. I wolfed down a chicken tikka massala - I was so ravenous I didn't even notice it said "extra hot" on the label. It could have been a phall and it wouldn't have been on my taste buds long enough to make a difference.
So marathon training has its upside. Still, I have it all to do before September.
Copyright © Jonathan Weedon, April 2006
posted by Jon | 7:48 pm
1 Comments:
J, I'm worried that you're over training....
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